Artist: Shahida Shaygan

presented by Vexer Verlag and Beat Wismer

The installation The 100 Dolls by the Afghan artist Shahida Shaygan (b. 1997) has so far only been publicly shown once. A group of a hundred vulnerable, fragile dolls hangs freely in the space—almost exclusively female figures, exhausted, wounded, but also cheerful and self-assured, always dignified. All of them are made from materials found on the street, carelessly discarded. The clothes are often colorful, and their faces are meticulously and individually embroidered with great expressiveness. The first ones were made starting in 2020 in Kabul; the others after the Taliban's seizure of power and Shaygan's flight in the summer of 2021 to Zurich, where the artist has lived ever since.

"Some represent my siblings and friends from Kabul, others emerged from memories of people I saw on the bus or on the street in Zurich. Whether the dolls turned out beautiful or ugly was decided during their formation."

The dolls—some engaged in dialogue with one another, others standing alone—were photographed by the renowned Swiss street photographer Beat Streuli (b. 1957) with equal respect, sensitivity, and visual power. The result is far more than documentation of a temporary installation—rather, a kind of double artists' book.

The publication is being released by Vexer Verlag, St. Gallen/Berlin, with texts by the artist, Zurich-based author Sophia Remer, and editor Beat Wismer.